A few weeks from now, wine drinkers around the world will be gathering for dinners, parties and festivals marking the release of this year's vintage of Beaujolais nouveau. A light and fruity red wine made in the Beaujolais region of France and released two months or less after the grapes are harvested, Beaujolais nouveau is looked down upon by many serious wine drinkers due to its simplicity and immaturity, but that doesn't stop millions of bottles of the stuff from being bought and enjoyed every year.
In the beer world, the equivalent of Beaujolais nouveau are harvest ales. Also known as fresh hop or wet hop ales, these beers are made using whole fresh hops on the same day that they're harvested, and released as soon as fermentation is complete. The aim is to produce a beer having a hops character that is fresher and livelier than what is found in those made using the much more common dried or pelleted hops. While the jury is still out on how much of an effect the fresh hops truly have on the flavour of the finished product, harvest ales have become more and more popular in recent years, especially in the always exciting American craft brewing scene.
Oh, and one big difference that should be noted: unlike Beaujolais nouveau which gets maligned by the wine snobs, harvest ales are the highlight of the season for beer nerds.
Here in Ontario, brewing a fresh hop beer was next to impossible for many years, as there was no hop farming taking place in the province on a commercial scale. This wasn't always the case - in fact, Ontario was one of North America's prime hop growing regions before disease wiped out most of the crop in the 1940s. But just as interest in Ontario's craft breweries has been growing, so has interest in reviving the hops industry, especially amongst tobacco farmers like Remi Van De Slyke who have seen the market for their main crop dry up as smoking rates plummet.
Once the past couple of years, a few Ontario brewers have tried their hands at using fresh hops, with the resulting brews made available on a small scale at special events like Volo's Cask Days festival. But this year for the first time, an Ontario brewery - Trafalgar Ales & Meads - has made a harvest ale in a large enough batch that it could be bottled and sold via the retail market. And perhaps as a nod to the aforementioned wine, they've dubbed it Trafalgar Hop Nouveau (LCBO 157784 - $5.95/650 mL bottle).
Considering the glacial pace that the LCBO often takes in approving and racking new beers, Trafalgar owner Mike Arnold and his crew have to be commended for getting this beer onto the shelves so quickly. Brewed on September 6th using hops harvested at the Van De Slyke farm that morning, the English-style Pale Ale was bottled on September 21st, delivered to the LCBO on September 24th, and shipped out to stores soon after.
Timeliness aside, what's most important is the quality of the beer, and Trafalgar has come through well in that regard. Pouring a hazy golden colour with a strong white head, the beer has a very well-balanced aroma of sweet malt, fresh hop resin, and a nice hit of orange zest. The carbonation is fairly light, giving the beer a soft body that is similar to a cask ale, a similarity that is furthered by the fact that it's unfiltered. The flavour is just as balanced and enjoyable as the aroma suggests, with well-meshed notes of caramel, orange and pineapple up front, and a building green hop bitterness in the finish.
Astute local beer drinkers will be aware that Trafalgar is known for releasing a lot of unique and experimental brews, not all of which have been successful. They've also suffered through recurring infection problems that have turned more than a few of their beers sour and undrinkable. But in the case of Hop Nouveau, they've turned out a very successful experiment that is more than just drinkable, it's delicious. Here's hoping they'll be able to keep it up.
I don't know, this seemed like a bit of a dud to me. It was like hop soda. There's a half bottle sitting in my fridge right now. It's from a week ago. It will never be finished.
Karen - even if you had liked the beer, I would hope that a half-bottle from a week ago wouldn't be finished, as it's probably not in very good shape now. Even with a decent wine stopper, beer generally won't last long once opened, a day or two at best before it becomes stale or oxidized. That's been my experience, at least.
Well, yes, of course. The point was that I left it to go bad because I couldn't fathom drinking any more of it.
I like these wet hopped ales and although this one was not one of the more intense wet hop/harvest ales I've tasted, it was very pleasant. Fresh malts under fresh leafy hops. If you appreciate freshness in a beer....and you should as beer was meant to be consumed as fresh after conditioning as possible, this is a nice little pale ale. And it comes from a source I least expected this from.. I'll recommend it and I hope the brewer continues with a 2010 harvest ale.